During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observation:
On Friday October 8th I was able to work with students during a whole team activity. I was given a card with instructions for a problem called "knots" in which the students had to link hands with two different people and not the person next to them. Once the whole group had linked hands than they had to become untangled without letting go of the hands they were holding. There were about 8 different pods or groups and they all rotated from activity to activity. Some activities were run by teachers and some by parents whom had volunteered. My CT walked from group to group taking pictures and conversing with all of the students. When I had to leave she took over my activity.
I have observed my teacher during many occasions working with groups of students. She is consistent with the manner in which she treats her students. She talks to her students in a friendly and respectful manner and is quite approachable. From all of the classes that I have observed I have noticed that she treats all of her students in the same manner; including her son and nephew whom she does teach 6th grade science to. She greets her students by name in passing and in the doorway before class. Her style of teaching is ideal. She explains topics thoroughly, is constantly taking indirect feedback and tweaking her lessons accordingly. She has commented to me on reading about teaching strategies and other information. It seems that she likes to stay current with education. We have talked about IEP's and students who are in need and my CT as well as her team are are very aware of those who have a documented need, such as those with IEP's and of students who have needs that are undocumented and should have services but don't.
Reflection:
I am genuinely very fond of the teaching style my CT uses. I like how she is very clear and direct with her students without becoming too commanding. She treats her students age appropriately. I appreciate that she uses great instructional techniques when teaching her classes. The student's in general all seem to be engaged. I was just conversing with my CT about the engagement of her students and her planning for classes and she explained that she likes to start with a science starter, and then to break up the rest of a class into two parts. She does this to keep her students attention captivated. I would like to do something similar in my classroom so that the students overall remain engaged in the lesson. I would also, as much as possible, like to incorporate some sort of movement into most of my classes. This could be as simple as having the students work in different groups or having them collect materials needed for a lesson or activity. I like the Idea of dealing with a core concept but switching gears slightly to maintain attention. I would like to be aware of students in need at all times when I am a teacher. I feel that many kids don't get the services they need to learn and I think the first person to notice it is often the teacher. I hope as a teacher that I can be a efficient communicator of my student's needs to whom ever I need to in order for the students to receive the help they need.
Observation:
On Friday October 8th I was able to work with students during a whole team activity. I was given a card with instructions for a problem called "knots" in which the students had to link hands with two different people and not the person next to them. Once the whole group had linked hands than they had to become untangled without letting go of the hands they were holding. There were about 8 different pods or groups and they all rotated from activity to activity. Some activities were run by teachers and some by parents whom had volunteered. My CT walked from group to group taking pictures and conversing with all of the students. When I had to leave she took over my activity.
I have observed my teacher during many occasions working with groups of students. She is consistent with the manner in which she treats her students. She talks to her students in a friendly and respectful manner and is quite approachable. From all of the classes that I have observed I have noticed that she treats all of her students in the same manner; including her son and nephew whom she does teach 6th grade science to. She greets her students by name in passing and in the doorway before class. Her style of teaching is ideal. She explains topics thoroughly, is constantly taking indirect feedback and tweaking her lessons accordingly. She has commented to me on reading about teaching strategies and other information. It seems that she likes to stay current with education. We have talked about IEP's and students who are in need and my CT as well as her team are are very aware of those who have a documented need, such as those with IEP's and of students who have needs that are undocumented and should have services but don't.
Reflection:
I am genuinely very fond of the teaching style my CT uses. I like how she is very clear and direct with her students without becoming too commanding. She treats her students age appropriately. I appreciate that she uses great instructional techniques when teaching her classes. The student's in general all seem to be engaged. I was just conversing with my CT about the engagement of her students and her planning for classes and she explained that she likes to start with a science starter, and then to break up the rest of a class into two parts. She does this to keep her students attention captivated. I would like to do something similar in my classroom so that the students overall remain engaged in the lesson. I would also, as much as possible, like to incorporate some sort of movement into most of my classes. This could be as simple as having the students work in different groups or having them collect materials needed for a lesson or activity. I like the Idea of dealing with a core concept but switching gears slightly to maintain attention. I would like to be aware of students in need at all times when I am a teacher. I feel that many kids don't get the services they need to learn and I think the first person to notice it is often the teacher. I hope as a teacher that I can be a efficient communicator of my student's needs to whom ever I need to in order for the students to receive the help they need.